Research Policy applicable to Researchers/Private Companies

This document has been prepared to provide information to private companies/individual researchers on the research policy being adopted by Jobsplus on granting access to customers for research purposes as well as for the provision of statistical data. The policy is intended to be followed by all private companies/individual researchers requesting data or information from Jobsplus for research purposes. Lack of adherence to this policy by the company/researchers concerned may result into the breaching of the Data Protection Act Cap 440.

‘Researchers’ refers to persons who are either not students or persons not acting in their official capacity as Government officials.

Personal data is collected and held by Jobsplus and is used by Jobsplus and/or transferred to third parties in order to fulfil its functions according to the provisions of the Jobsplus Act CAP 343.

(i) Request for the provision of statistical data for research purposes

Any company/researcher who requests statistical data from Jobsplus must sign the Researchers/Private Companies’ Research Policy and fill in the form included in Appendix A. Both documents are to be forwarded to the Labour Market Analysis Unit.

After submitting a request, the Labour Market Analysis Unit shall contact the company/researcher within five working days from the date of submission of the request.

A company/individual researcher who wishes to conduct research at Jobsplus shall contact the Labour Market Analysis Unit, which is in charge of research within the Corporation.

In the case of a company, the form found in Appendix B must be duly filled together with a covering letter printed on the company’s letterhead, signed by the company Director and incorporating the company’s rubberstamp. The company must declare that it shall assume responsibility to process any personal data obtained through the assistance of Jobsplus in accordance with the Data Protection Act, CAP 440.

In the case of a researcher making the request, the form found in Appendix B must be duly filled together with an original letter signed by the researcher, describing what is being requested and why the data is required. The researcher must declare that s/he shall assume responsibility to process any personal data obtained through the assistance of Jobsplus in accordance with the Data Protection Act, CAP 440.

The Researchers/Private Companies’ Research Policy needs to be completed and forwarded to the Labour Market Analysis Unit, together with the form found in Appendix B and the covering letter. Such documents could be forwarded to the Labour Market Analysis Unit by email, post or by hand.

Any company/individual researcher who requests to access both Jobsplus customers and/or Jobsplus employees as well as statistical data, must attach a covering letter printed on the company’s letterhead, signed by the company Director and incorporating the company’s rubberstamp, describing briefly their request both for statistical data as well as their request to access Jobsplus customers and/or Jobsplus employees. Appendix A need not be filled. Provision (ii) above must be adhered to.

(iv) Approval from the Labour Market Analysis Unit

Upon submission of all information requested, the Labour Market Analysis Unit shall contact the company/researcher within five working days and not later than ten working days.

Approval or otherwise of the request is solely at the discretion of Jobsplus.

If the request is approved, an approval letter from Jobsplus is issued and forwarded to the company/researcher by email and by post.

If the request is not approved, the Corporation shall provide an explanation of the main reasons for this decision.

No information shall be provided if the intention of the company/researcher is to obtain information from Jobsplus that is to be used to promote the products/services of the requester.

If the Labour Market Analysis Unit does not receive any feedback from the company/individual researcher within four weeks from the date of submission of the original request, the request will be considered as closed.

If the request involves the dissemination of questionnaires by Jobsplus, approval or otherwise shall be based on a number of factors:

Whether research is related to the labour market;

If target groups requested could be obtained from other available sources;

If request is in line with the Data Protection Act

If the request is approved:

Jobsplus requests a copy of the final questionnaire before it is disseminated; Jobsplus has the right to accept or otherwise any information found in the questionnaire;

Jobsplus requests a covering letter, to be sent with the questionnaire, which should include the following: research question and objective of study, period of study, why target group was chosen, as well as researcher’s contact details;

The Corporation shall send a link with the questionnaire (to include the covering letter) through its mail shot; the link is to be provided by the researcher and no reference to Jobsplus shall be made;

Sampling details should be explained clearly;

The Corporation is to inform the company/researcher the size of the sample the questionnaire shall be distributed to;

Jobsplus shall not be held accountable for the level of responses received;

Responses, clarification queries or follow-up questions are to be handled directly by the company/ researcher;

The following disclaimer shall be included in the mail shot sent by Jobsplus:

“The responsibility for this survey rests solely on the author(s), and the publication does not constitute an endorsement by Jobsplus of the questions, opinions and conclusions expressed in it”.

(vi) Access to Data Subjects and Data Protection

If the request is approved by the Labour Market Analysis Unit, Jobsplus shall seek approval from the Corporation’s Data Protection Officer (DPO). Approval from the Corporation’s DPO is required if the request involves the issuing of “personal data”1, “sensitive personal data”2 or “confidential data”3, which leads to the identification of individuals. The Corporation’s DPO may also refer the request to the Data Protection Commissioner.

Before seeking approval from the Corporation’s DPO, the Labour Market Analysis Unit must receive all accompanying documents from the company/researcher. These include questionnaires and/or interview or focus group questions that shall be used during the research.

The Labour Market Analysis Unit shall then liaise with the Division/s responsible for providing access to the data subjects as approved by the Data Protection Officer.

(vii) Provision of copies of letters of consent received from data subjects

If the research involves meeting data subjects face to face by the interviewer, the company/researcher is requested to present a consent form to be reviewed by the Labour Market Analysis Unit. Appendix C presents a sample consent form which can be updated accordingly by the company/researcher and returned to the Unit. The company/researcher may choose to use a different consent form from that presented in this Policy.

Following approval from Jobsplus, consent forms shall be distributed by the company/researcher to the data subjects prior to the research. Data subjects must be provided with an original copy of the consent form, signed by both the interviewee and the interviewer. Copies of duly signed consent forms, in either soft or hard format are to be sent to the Labour Market Analysis Unit within five days of the interview.

If research is of a sensitive nature, Jobsplus will forward the consent form to the data subjects. In exceptional instances, the consent of parents/legal guardians shall also be requested. The list of data subjects who agree to participate in the research shall then be forwarded to the researcher.

Consent forms are required for reference in case any of the data subjects contacts Jobsplus requesting further information on the research. In addition, the data subject is also entitled to retract his/her information. If the data subject were to make this request, the researcher shall be obliged to remove any information that is related to the subject in question.

(viii) Assistance required during the period of research at Jobsplus

The Labour Market Analysis Unit shall act as the primary focal point to the company/researcher during the course of his/her research at Jobsplus and shall assist him/her in accessing data subjects and by providing, where available, the information required for undertaking the research. The Division responsible for research shall further liaise with the company/researcher should assistance with the research be required.

Jobsplus may be entitled to halt any ongoing process if it deems or suspects that the company/researcher is making use of the information for purposes other than those declared to the Corporation. Jobsplus shall stop the research process with immediate effect if there is an infringement of any law committed by the company/researcher.

(ix) Interview with Jobsplus employees

In the case where a researcher/company requests to interview Jobsplus employees, before publishing the study, the Labour Market Analysis Unit requests to validate those areas in the study where Jobsplus’ employees are referenced. Jobsplus has the right to seek clarification, accept or otherwise any referenced information.

The same applies if Jobsplus’ employees are referenced after a job placement and/or job shadowing at Jobsplus.

(x) Submission of research analysis

A maximum period of one month is being provided for the company/researcher to provide the Labour Market Analysis Unit with a copy (either a soft copy or a hard copy) of the finalized analysis.

The research whether presented in own name or commissioned by a third party, shall be submitted to the Labour Market Analysis Unit.

If there are instances in which Jobsplus is interested in utilizing part/s or the whole analytical study, the company/researcher’s consent will be requested.

(xi) Publication

When a study is published, the following disclaimer must be included:

“The responsibility for the opinions and conclusions expressed in this publication rests solely on the author(s), and the publication does not constitute an endorsement by Jobsplus of the questions, opinions and conclusions expressed in it.”

The Corporation’s contribution is to be given credit in the study and any information/data provided must be cited as being provided by Jobsplus.

(xii) Charges

Provision of services for research purposes might involve a charge. The cost is proportional to the expenses incurred by Jobsplus in order to compile information and provide assistance. If the request could be answered through data already available, no charge is applied. If the request involves the extraction of data, a quote shall be provided, outlining the costs, as explained below.

A minimum charge of 20€ is applicable for requests.

Fixed Charge:

20€ (minimum charge)

Hourly Charge:

20€/hour

Charges are sub-divided as follows:

Time estimated in hours

Manual Compilation

Programming/Computer Processing

Printing

Others

The applicable charges shall be communicated when the Labour Market Analysis Unit informs the individual researcher/company whether the request was approved or otherwise. Work on the request will commence only upon acceptance and confirmation of the amount due.

Charges will be applicable for all requests from 1st October 2016.

(xiii) Terms and Conditions:

Data shall only be collected and processed for the specific research purpose.

Anonymity, confidentiality and privacy shall be ensured throughout the whole study.

Kindly sign in the space indicated below, together with your name and I.D. card number, to be able to utilise Jobsplus data within your research and thereby confirm agreement with the above mentioned guidelines.

‘Mr. /Ms. /Dr. ………………. of I.D. (……………………..) binds himself/herself with the conditions outlined in this policy’.

“I hereby declare that all information provided in this information form is true and correct. I agree to abide by the policies outlined by Jobsplus. I further agree that all information collected shall be used solely for this research and deleted once the purpose of this research has been achieved.”

You may also wish to contact us on +356 21654940/22201124 and ask for the Labour Market Analysis Unit for further enquiries.

[1]“Personal Data” - “any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person; an identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identification number or to one or more factors specific to his physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity’ (Data Protection Act, Chapter 440, Part 1, Article 2)

[3] “Confidential Data” - “data obtained by the National Statistics Office for the production of official statistics when such data allow statistical units to be identified directly or indirectly, thereby disclosing individual information” (Malta Statistics Authority Act, Chapter 422, 2000)